Blockchain and Energy Trading

There have been increasing discussion, and some initiatives, to use blockchain - distributed ledger technology (DLT) that drives the bitcoin cryptocurrency - in the energy market. The idea is to use this technology to create a smart contract that would significantly improve efficiency and lower transaction costs in energy trading. Yet there are fundamental questions and challenges including the need for industry leadership to develop a standardized model and software for a smart contract and whether or not to use cryptocurrency, among other challenges.

Please join the Energy Forum in this session for an overview on Blockchain technology and its prospect in the energy market.

SPEAKERS

Arnaud Stevens is managing director and head of Global Energy and Commodities, Trade and Structured Finance - Americas at Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking. Arnaud joined Natixis in New York in August 2011. He has more than 20 years of experience in Corporate and Investment banking. He specializes in Commodity Trade and Structured Finance and leads a commodity bankers team comprised of industry veterans. The team covers a wide range of sectors in the Americas, including Energy (Oil, Gas and Power), Mining and Metals (base and precious metals) and Agricultural products. Passionate about technology, AI, and blockchain, Arnaud has completed several blockchain projects (Ethereum, Corda, Hyperledger). The most recent initiative is a distributed ledger platform for crude oil in the US with IBM and Trafigura.

Arnaud graduated from Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) Paris and Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

John Kingston is Executive Editor of FreightWaves, a recently-launched initiative that seeks to become a leading source of news, information and risk management in the freight transport sector. Additionally, he is head of community engagement at the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (Bita), which was founded by FreightWaves to serve as a platform for aggregating industry standards that can be used in distributed ledger applications targeted at the transport industry. Prior to that, Kingston spent more than 32 years at McGraw Hill/S&P Global, most of it at the Platts division, where he was Director of Oil and then Director of News. After moving to the corporate sector, he took on the role as head of the S&P Global blockchain task force, where he and his colleagues looked at possible impacts to S&P Global from blockchain technology.

MODERATOR

David H. Knapp is Chief Energy Economist and Senior Editor for Global Oil Market Analysis at Energy Intelligence Group in New York. He is Editor of EIG's monthly Oil Market Intelligence. He has analyzed energy markets for 40 years in the international, government, business and financial sectors. Dr. Knapp holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.